


Of Butterbeer and Broomsticks

by jessbobess



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Marauders' Era, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 05:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3238601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessbobess/pseuds/jessbobess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, the big fat never-ending book of Marauder- and Jily- centric drabbles.</p><p>Recently:<br/>James is not a cat person. No, honestly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cat Person

**Author's Note:**

> because i needed a place for all my little jily pieces. several of them (including this first one) may have been originally posted on tumblr. and they're unbeta'd, so any mistakes are entirely mine. hopefully you guys enjoy them!

James wasn’t a cat person. Or so he said, anyway, because what self-respecting man would openly declare himself a “cat person?” Truth be told, James rather liked cats, and the cat that Lily had purchased before her first year at Hogwarts was not an exception.

The closest he’d come to asking about Moo’s name was wondering aloud if it was because the cat’s fur was blotched black and white. Lily, however, had insisted this was not the reason he had been called “Moo,” and so James simply accepted it for what it was.

Presently, Moo was perched on the front windowsill of their flat, his tiny pink nose only centimeters away from the glass. His breath periodically fogged up a spot on the window in front of his face. James, who sat on the sofa just below the windowsill, was watching Moo about as intently as Moo was watching the pouring rain outside (which he was watching very intently).

James inched his face closer to the cat.

"I know a cat," he began in a low voice, "that’s also a lady. Well, I suppose she’s really a woman before she’s a cat. Actually, you lived in the Gryffindor dorms for seven years, you might’ve come across her."

Moo’s tail twitched lazily.

"Maybe you even met her as a cat," he continued. "Moo, tell me — man to man — did McGonagall spy on the students as a tabby?"

"What in Merlin’s name are you two doing?"

James’s head swiveled in the direction of his fiancee, who was wrapped in a large, velvet blanket that she held together with one hand. Meanwhile, a steaming cup of tea was in her other hand, and an expression of utter bewilderment adorned her face.

He realized he’d gotten onto all fours on the sofa. Without moving, he said, “I can certainly see why this would alarm you—”

"Oh, it doesn’t alarm me," Lily cut in, smirking now. "In fact, it doesn’t even come as much of a surprise. I’ve lived with you for months, now, James." Laughter danced in her green eyes.

A soft, furry something brushed over James’s nose, leaving a terribly unpleasant tickle in its wake. A moment later, James sneezed violently, falling forward and quite possibly breaking his fingers, which he had just been perched on. Claws dug into his scalp, and after hissing in James’s ear, Moo detached himself from James’s head and stalked off down the hall.

James flipped himself over on the couch and gave Lily a deploring look. “I swear I’m not a cat person, Lil.”


	2. Apodyopis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apodyopis - The act of mentally undressing someone.

He wasn’t quite as skinny as he used to be, no, he appeared to have filled out his form over the summer…had it just been a load of Quidditch that did it, or had he perhaps built up his muscle intentionally?  _Well, good,_ she thought, touching her toast to her lips but failing to bite into it,  _at least he’s got the right proportions now._

She took particular notice of the way his shirt sleeves were just  _ever_  so slightly stretched by his biceps, which flexed as he went to put his arms behind his head. He was tan, too, he’d clearly spent a good bit of time in the sun. There was a single freckle at the base of his neck, just above his collarbone, and  _Merlin_  did his skin look soft. _  
_

Had she ever seen him without his shirt? Surely she had—it must not have been very spectacular, because she couldn’t recall it if the Minister of Magic himself had asked her to, but if he took his shirt off  _now_ , it’d definitely be a sight to appreciate. He probably had that V-shaped pelvic muscle going on as well, pointing down, subtly suggesting the possibility of what else there was to see—

“ _Lily_!”

Startled, Lily flinched, and her elbow, which had just a moment before been propping her up, slipped off the table. Her face collided roughly with the piece of toast she most certainly thought she’d already eaten, and her plate flew across the table with a clatter, knocking over Mary Macdonald’s glass of pumpkin juice. Too late, Lily noticed that the bright orange drink was soaking her hair, and she sat up quickly with an displeased hiss.

She found Mary’s eyes—her friend had one eyebrow raised and was wearing a knowing expression that Lily didn’t much like the look of at all.

"Tired," Lily muttered, desperately willing her face to stop burning with embarrassment. Her hair dripping, she shoved a hand into her robes for her wand and trying to look extremely preoccupied with the task.

"Tired." repeated Mary, who judging by the tone of her voice wasn’t buying it for a second.

Lily squeezed pumpkin juice out of her hair and gave Mary a reproachful glare. “Piss off, you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this also comes from tumblr. incidentally, [this is me](http://elvendcrk.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, if anyone is curious. beware the fandom blogging! also, i'm on a semi-hiatus there, at the moment.


	3. Gymnophoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gymnophoria - The sensation that someone is mentally undressing you.

"Eat the ruddy toast."

"What was that, Prongs?"

James’s ears grew hot. He really hadn’t meant to say that out loud,  _really_ , it’s just that Lily looked like she’d been Confunded and she was staring at him—no, not at him, in his general direction, he corrected himself—with a piece of toast hanging lamely in her hand. She had it held up to her mouth like she intended to eat it, but it had been at least a full minute and the toast was still very much intact.

"Don’t make a show of looking—she’s already done that—Evans appears to have gone daft," he muttered out of the side of his mouth to Sirius, who was blowing through a piece of toast every few seconds.

Across the table, Peter craned his neck around to look down toward where Lily and Mary Macdonald were sitting. Sirius flung a half-eaten piece of toast and hit Peter squarely in the face.

"You’re a prat, Wormtail," James said, grinning. Peter frowned at the toast, then put the rest of it into his mouth after a moment of consideration.

"Is she…is she looking at  _you_?” Remus piped up from next to Peter. He looked at James with an expression of shock that seemed to be half-feigned and half-genuine.

James snorted derisively into his pumpkin juice. “That’s likely.”

Still, he could _feel_ her eyes on him. It was quite uncomfortable, and he had the sudden thought that he’d done this to her on more than one occasion in the past. But that was only because she was always looking so damn  _fit…_

He cocked an eyebrow.

Leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms out behind him, James cleared his throat and said under his breath, “Or perhaps she’s come to her senses at last.”

"Oh bloody hell," Sirius cried past a mouthful of toast, "we’ve got to stop this before it gets out of control—OI!" He made a gesture toward the girls, but James caught him in the ribs with his elbow. Sirius yelped and then struggled to swallow through his laughter.

"I reckon she’s just looking at that horrific zit on your nose, mate," Peter said, straight-faced.

“ _What_?”

James groped at his face desperately. He found no such zit—in fact, he merely succeeded in setting his glasses crooked. Peter grinned at him proudly, while Remus and Sirius snickered.

"You’re a prat," repeated James, adjusting his glasses and pretending to dust himself off.

There was a great noise from down the table, and the four boys allowed themselves to look openly, now, as everyone else at the Gryffindor table seemed to be doing the same. Whatever had happened had spilled Mary’s pumpkin juice, and it lay in an orange puddle on the table. The toast that Lily had never eaten sat in it and grew soggy, as did much of Lily’s long, red hair. Mary appeared thoroughly amused—Lily, however, was blushing furiously.

"Maybe she just didn’t get much sleep?"

James suppressed a smile. “Yeah…maybe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a sister piece to apodyopis, naturally! (the ending is a bit painful. i apologize.)


	4. Tarantism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tarantism - The urge to overcome melancholy by dancing.

"You still look grumpy." Marlene leaned back in SIrius’s bed, her dark hair tousled. She crossed her ams over her chest and smirked at him deviously. "I thought a nice shag would be sure to lift your spirits—unless it wasn’t nice?"

"No," said Sirius. He grinned back, bending down to pull up his knickers. "It was brilliant, as always. Everything’s just felt… _different_ , lately.”

Marlene, who was making no effort whatsoever to dress herself, blinked slowly. “Has James had another breakdown? He  _has_ been rather emotional, come to think of it…”

"It wasn’t a breakdown," Sirius said quickly, his eyebrows furrowing. "He was just—a bloke can only put on a brave face for so long, he’s been worried sick about Lily and me and the others for ages, and now he’s got the baby to think about—"

Marlene threw her hands in the air—Sirius tried very hard not to look immediately at her bare chest. “I didn’t mean it that way!”

Sirius sighed and fell back on the bed, letting one arm flop limply off the side. “I know.”

There was a moment of charged silence before he spoke again.

"I just feel as if there’s something big coming. I don’t know."

At first, Marlene did not reply. Sirius felt the pressure on the mattress decrease and turned his head to see her getting out of the bed and grabbing her wand from the bedside table. When she turned to face him again, there was a strand of hair falling over her eyes, which were alight with glee.

Sounding quite proud of herself, she asked, “You know what must be done, then?”

"Er." Sirius stared—partly because he didn’t have the faintest idea what she was on about, and partly because…well, there was a gorgeous, naked woman standing in his room.

Marlene waved her wand toward something out of Sirius’s line of sight, and a second later an uptempo song started playing from what must have been his radio. She turned up the volume with another little flick of her wand and, once they could feel the vibrations of the bass drum being hit, began to twirl.

She was dancing. It was the most ridiculous dancing Sirius had ever seen—it was horrid and spastic and dizzying, but the smile on Marlene’s face was as wide as it could possibly be.

He couldn’t help it—how could he watch someone dance like that without joining in? A sudden urge brought Sirius to his feet, which he started moving in a sort of mock tap dance. Marlene laughed heartily and she too began to thump her feet on the floor, snapping her fingers for added effect.

They danced until it grew dark, whooping and jumping and spinning like two schoolchildren. When they could keep on no longer, they collapsed into Sirius’s bed together, giggling madly and sweating profusely, eventually falling asleep right where they lay.

It was the first night in months that he didn’t have any nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't exactly ship blackinnon myself, and this is actually the first and only time i've written it so far; but it was a prompt on tumblr (surprise, surprise) from a friend. i debated whether or not to include it here, then i figured some of you might enjoy it. :)


End file.
